Almond - Wheat Cookies

Hi All, today i came up with zero-butter yet healthy/tasty recipe! Try it and enjoy the taste.

Prep Time : 8 mins
Bake Time : 25 mins (or until done)
Count :  22 cookies (based on the size of patty you make)

Here are the ingredients :

Wheat flour   -  1 1/2 cups
Almonds       -  1/2 cup
Sugar           -  3/4  cup  (i used confectioner's sugar)
Cardomom powder -  1/2 tbsp
Oil               -  3/4 cup
You can add dash of baking powder if you want but not necessary.

And here are the quick steps for prep and bake :

--> Blend almonds into coarse powder.
--> Take wheat flour, coarse almond powder, sugar, cardomom powder and toss the entire mixture by adding oil slowly and make it as a dough (dough should have the consistency as we make dough for rotis).
--> Now make into small pattis (and stick in sliced almonds into each patty - optional).

--> Set the oven temperature to 360 degrees F.

--> Meanwhile, place each patty on a wide pan leaving about thumb size gap among cookies.
Tip of the day -  Place Parchment paper OR use re-usable baking sheet inside the pan instead of applying butter/spraying oil (i use re-usable baking sheet).
--> Bake cookies upto 25 mins (less/more according to your oven).
--> Once they are done, take out the tray, let them cool down for few mins.

--> Thats it, yummy/healthy guilt free cookies ready to enjoy.

Gobi Manchurian

An Indo-Chinese dish that suits Indian taste. Process involves 2 parts : including part 1 as deep frying cauliflower florets dipped in flour batter while the second part is preparing gravy.  Manchuria can be prepared either as dry or with gravy.

I have prepared it as semi gravy manchurian so that it can be served either as starter or with rotis.

These are the ingredients i used :

1  big cauliflower (Gobi)

¼  cup rice flour
¼  cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp corn startch1  tsp of red chilli powder
2  tsp corriander powder

1 big onion
2 bell peppers
4 green chillies
1/2  tsp of ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp of  hot & sweet sauce
1 tbsp of tomato chilli sauce
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Gobi Manchurian

Part 1 :

Wash and separate all the cauliflower florets.
Now, preparing batter for cauliflower coating :
1. Mix  rice flour, all-purpose flour, corn startch, salt to taste, red chilli powder, ginger garlic paste, 1 tsp corriander powder with water and make it as medium-to-thin paste.
2. Take oil to deep fry in a pan, dip each cauliflower floret into batter and place each dipped floret into oil. let it fry until golden brown and keep them aside.
3. Repeat the process, until all the florets are deep fried and keep them aside.

Part 2:
4. Chop onion, ¼  tsp of ginger garlic paste, green chillies, bell peppers and saute them.
5. Add 1 tsp corriander powder, salt to taste, cilantro to above mixture and switch off the flame.
6. Now, add hot & sweet sauce and tomato chilli sauce, mix all the manchurian together.
7. Now, slowly add all the deep fried cauliflower florets to the bell pepper gravy and stir altogether until well mixed.

Thats it, yummy yummy gobi manchurian ready to eat. This can be served either as snack/appetizer  or  can be served with rotis.

Strawberry Lime Slush


Slush perfect for everyone in coming summer.

Ingredients required are :
2 Cups frozen strawberries
1 and half lime (squeezed lime juice)
3 Tbsp agave nectar (or 6-8 dates - purely my preference)
1 Cup water (or 1 cup ice cubes for thick texture)



Strawberry Lime Slush


Add all the ingredients to blender, blend it until smooth juice.



Source : Blendtec recipes. (I have made small changes to the original recipe as said in the ingredients).

Rainbow Jello Oranges

This colorful munching dessert(lets say ;) ), attracts everyone and mostly kids just love it ;)  Very easy to prepare. Summarizing briefly, the procedure i followed :

--> Prepare jello as per the packet instructions and let it be in a bowl.
--> Cut each orange into 2 halves.
--> Scrape out inside part of oranges. (you can make juice from insiders). Now you get the Orange shells.
--> Arrange these empty shells in a tray that can sit in your refrigerator.
--> Now pour jello liquid (prepared in first step) into each of the cut halves.
 --> Refrigerate jello oranges atleast for 5 hours.
--> Take out jello oranges and cut into desirable size.

Rainbow Jello Oranges

Instead of single color, i used different colors (which means different flavours) :
Color                        Jello Flavour
Blue                          Berry Blue
Green                        Lime
Red                           Strawberry
Yellow                      Peach

Tip : Ice-cream scoop can be used to scrape out the insides of oranges.
You can use as many colors as you want.

Vegetable Frittata

Made this as breakfast. It includes lot many healthy options. Easy to prepare, healthy to eat. I won second prize for this recipe as part of Savory Baking Competition held by an online group. I named so since i have used wide range of vegetables along with egg. If you don't like egg, you can use egg replacements (haven't tried it though with egg replacement :) ).
Ingredients :

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1 small cucumbet [i used persian cucumber; zuccini can also be used]

2 green chillies finely chopped

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms [fresh or dried]

few beans, finely chopped

1/2 carrot thinly sliced

6 bok choy florets  nicely chopped

1 tablespoon butter

8 eggs (i used 6 egg whites and just 2 full eggs)

1/2 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

small amount of Maggi Hot and Sweet sauce

Vegetable Frittata

Preparation

Pre-heat oven for 400 degrees F.

Spread butter inside [all around] 8 inch pan.

Place onion, green chillies,cucumber, mushrooms, beans, carrots, bok choy in 8 inch pan. [Arrange one by one as shown in the pics]

Cook the vegetables in oven for 3-5 mins or until they become half crunchy, half baked.

Step-by-step process of vegetable frittata

Now, in a bowl, beat eggs, pour milk, add salt, pepper, hot & sweet sauce, whist altogether until the mixture is little bit fluffy with bubbles.

Pour the mixture on to the vegetables evenly.

Let it cook for 25 to 35 minutes.

For checking, poke with a fork in the middle and see if the fork come out clearly without food sticking to it. That is the right consistency of baking.

Once it is well cooked, take out of oven and let it cool down for couple of minutes, slice it into pieces, and serve it hot with oranges on the side :)   [don't forget to switch off the oven ;) ]

Healthy Spread

Instead of the regular jams and the peanut butter on the bread everyday, you can try this; Taste bhi, health bhi :). Even good for kids.
Ingredients :

Walnuts              1/2 cup
Pecans               1/2 cup
Almonds            1/4 cup
Peanuts              1/2 cup
Macademias       1/4 cup
Milk                   1/2 cup
Honey                1/4 cup
Unsalted Butter  couple of tsps

Procedure :

--> Clean all the above nuts gently.
--> Let them dry on a paper towel for a while.
--> Take a saute pan, pour small amount of oil just to saute nuts.
--> Saute nuts taking one variety at a time. Pecans are gentle, donot let them burn.
--> Once done with saute, let them cool for some time.
--> Now, blend all the roasted nuts,milk,and honey in a regular blender.
--> Blend until it is finely done.
--> Store it in a tight container and keep refrigerated.
--> Ready to use it on your regular bread.

I like flower arrangements a lot.. I believe flowers brings happiness and pleasantness. these are couple of the arrangements i made...

My first mehendi and nail paint; I tried the paint on my nails with wet nail polish. It would be even more colorful if you use 3 different colors. I have just used 1 color.

Vermicelli Utappam

       Sounds Interesting? I'l tell u the secret :  just add Rice flour for your leftover vermicelli Idli batter, add green chillies, ginger, corriander, 1/4 tsp of baking powder, salt;

Mix the above specified ingredients altogether and spread on the non-stick pan as thick dosa/crepe.

Let it cook on medium flame for atleast 10 mins, until the utappam is golden brown in color; flip to other side and let it toast on other side too;

Now, switch off the flame once it is done on both side, and cut it into small slices as pizza slices;

Thats it, ready to eat it hot with chutney of your kind; I like to eat it during snack time or just for munching :-)

Garelu

Raw Material
Urad Dal(whole)              2 cups
Oil                                  required for deep frying
Salt                                 as required

Preparation:
--> Wash urad dal and soak them for atleast 5 hours.
--> Grind them with very little amount of water. Be careful batter should be very thick; shouldn't be loose at all. Add salt during blending itself.
--> Pour oil (sufficient for deep frying) into a pan and let it heat up.
--> Now take a ziploc and rub it with water.
--> Take a small dumpling of the above prepared batter and press it on ziploc make it like patti.
--> Take out each patti carefully and put it in heated oil. Let them fry until golden brown, take out of oil and serve them hot with ginger chutney.

Spider Mums' Cake

Today i came up with new yummy recipe;
Ingredients
Spider mums       :       3
Little Carnations  :       1 bunch
Green Ferns        :       1 bunch
Oasis                  :        1/2

Haa Haa   Sorry just for fun; I made a small flower arrangement, just wanted to share that on my blog;